Bowl barrow 450m north of Vittlefields Farm

A Scheduled Monument in Newport, Isle of Wight

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Coordinates

Latitude: 50.7062 / 50°42'22"N

Longitude: -1.351 / 1°21'3"W

OS Eastings: 445923.474133

OS Northings: 89813.605307

OS Grid: SZ459898

Mapcode National: GBR 8B8.M80

Mapcode Global: FRA 8716.RH8

Entry Name: Bowl barrow 450m north of Vittlefields Farm

Scheduled Date: 18 January 1995

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1010010

English Heritage Legacy ID: 22027

County: Isle of Wight

Civil Parish: Newport

Traditional County: Hampshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Isle of Wight

Church of England Parish: Carisbrooke St Mary the Virgin

Church of England Diocese: Portsmouth

Details

The monument includes a bowl barrow on a slight north facing slope in a
low lying valley with chalk hills to the south.
The barrow has a mound which measures c.27m in diameter and is 0.4m high.
Surrounding the mound is a ditch from which material was quarried during its
construction. This has become infilled over the years and can no longer be
seen at ground level but survives as a buried feature c.5m wide.
The barrow was opened in 1854 by Sir C Fellows. At the centre was a cairn of
flints covered by a mound of clay and gravel. At the centre of the cairn were
three urns resting on the old ground surface and containing cremations. It is
reputed to have been opened again in 1855 by Sir C Fellows, and produced wood
ashes, burnt bones and fragments of pottery.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Bowl barrows, the most numerous form of round barrow, are funerary monuments
dating from the Late Neolithic period to the Late Bronze Age, with most
examples belonging to the period 2400-1500 BC. They were constructed as
earthen or rubble mounds, sometimes ditched, which covered single or multiple
burials. They occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often
acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Often superficially similar,
although differing widely in size, they exhibit regional variations in form
and a diversity of burial practices. There are over 10,000 surviving bowl
barrows recorded nationally (many more have already been destroyed), occurring
across most of lowland Britain. Often occupying prominent locations, they are
a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable
variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important
information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisations amongst early
prehistoric communities. They are particularly representative of their period
and a substantial proportion of surviving examples are considered worthy of
protection.

Despite having been partially excavated, the bowl barrow 450m north of
Vittlefields Farm survives well and will contain archaeological remains and
environmental evidence relating to the barrow and the landscape in which it
was constructed. This barrow is rare on the Isle of Wight as it stands on
gravel some distance away from chalk.

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